Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 3 februar 2005 / Time Line February 3, 2005
Version 3.52. Februar 2005, 4. Februar 2005
02/03/2005
Gonzales Added to War Crimes Complaint in Germany
New Evidence Shows Fay Report On Abu Ghraib Protected Officials
Center for Constitutional Rights
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=ci38xk7IHk&Content=509
CCR Says Attorney General Designate's Testimony before the Senate
Confirms His Role in Abu Ghraib Torture
Synopsis
CCR filed new documents on January 31, 2005, with the German
Federal Prosecutor looking into war crimes charges against
high-ranking U.S. officials including Donald Rumsfeld: one includes
new evidence that the Fay investigation into Abu Ghraib protected
Administration officials - it is a comprehensive and shocking
opinion by Scott Horton, an expert on international law and the
Chair of the International Law Committee of the Association of the
Bar of the City of New York. The second is a letter that details
how Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales' testimony before the
Senate Judiciary Committee confirms his role as complicit in the
torture and abuse of detainees in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in
Iraq.
Description and Status
In a declaration filed with the prosecutor in Karlsruhe, Germany,
Scott Horton, who was asked to consider whether or not the U.S.
would conduct a genuine investigation up the chain of command for
war crimes, unequivocally states that "no such criminal
investigation or prosecution would occur in the near future in the
United States for the reason that the criminal investigative and
prosecutorial functions are currently controlled by individuals who
are involved in the conspiracy to commit war crimes."
One of the legal issues before the prosecutor is whether the German
investigation should be dismissed or deferred so that the U.S.
authorities have a chance to conduct their own investigation. The
obvious answer from Horton's affidavit is no. The impossibility of
an independent and far-reaching domestic investigation of
high-ranking U.S. officials coupled with the United States' refusal
to join the International Criminal Court make the German court a
court of last resort.
Horton also reveals that a study he undertook of Major General
George R. Fay's investigation of the Abu Ghraib abuses (The Fay
Report, spring 2004) shows that the investigation was in fact
designed to cover up the role of high-ranking officials. He reports
that 'certain senior officials whose conduct in this affair bears
close scrutiny, were explicitly 'protected' or shielded' by
withholding information from investigators or by providing security
classifications that made such investigation possible in each case,
the fact that these individuals possessed information on Rumsfeld's
involvement was essential to the decision to shield them.'
Horton cited appeals by leaders of the legal profession in the
United States and by the American Bar Association for investigation
and action on obvious war crimes, and noted that the Justice
Department had failed to act. With the confirmation of Alberto
Gonzales now looming, he states 'any serious criminal investigation
and prosecution would certainly involve Gonzales.'
CCR Vice President Peter Weiss said Gonzales's testimony before the
Senate Judiciary Committee 'demonstrates his involvement in setting
policy where torture and inhumane treatment was authorized at the
highest levels of the Bush Administration.' Weiss pointed to
Gonzales's claim that the prohibition on cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment does not protect aliens in U.S. custody
overseas, stating 'this makes clear that Gonzales and the Bush
Administration continue to believe that non-citizens held outside
the U.S. can be treated inhumanely.'
According to recent news reports, Rumsfeld has threatened to stay
away from the annual Munich security conference because of possible
investigation and prosecution in Germany. Commenting on this
development, CCR President Michael Ratner said, 'While we think
this is nothing more than a tactic to bully the Germans into
dropping the case, we also believe that Donald Rumsfeld cannot
escape accountability for his alleged crimes.'
The German Prosecutor was asked on November 30, 2004, by the Center
for Constitutional Rights (CCR) to investigate the role of ten
high-ranking U.S. officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, in the
abuse of detainees in Iraq. Under the doctrine of universal
jurisdiction, which is part of German law, suspected war criminals
may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located. In
addition, at least three of the defendants, LTG Ricardo Sanchez, MG
Walter Wojdakowski and Colonel Thomas Pappas, are stationed in
Germany, providing the Prosecutor with another basis to
investigate. Plaintiffs in this case are represented by German
attorney Wolfgang Kaleck, and include three Iraqi citizens who were
abused at U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq including Abu
Ghraib, and the following organizations who joined the complaint:
the Federation Internationale des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), Lawyers
Against the War (LAW) and the International Legal Resources Center
(ILRC).
The new letter to the prosecutor also cites the recent documents
unearthed by CCR and the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act,
a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, a
confidential report by Colonel Stuart A. Herrington of the U.S.
Army and numerous other reports that confirm the widespread
character of the abuses and the knowledge of high-ranking U.S.
officials.
To read more about the case, go to this web site:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/sept11Article.asp?ObjID=1xiADJOOQx&Content=472
Use the long URL address above, or this one:
http://tinyurl.com/4yu8j
02/03/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States
Department of Defense
General Atomics Aeronautical System, San Diego, Calif., was awarded
on Feb. 1, 2005, a $4,218,338 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee
contract for two additional Improved-GNAT Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,
three modification kits for legacy, hardware and the development
and integration of the Tactical Automatic Landing System. Work will
be performed in San Diego, Calif. (80 percent) and Adelanto, Calif.
(20 percent), and is expected to be completed by Feb. 22, 2006.
Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal
year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Dec. 8, 2004.
The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.,
is the contracting activity (DAAH01-03-C-0124).
Systems Planning and Analysis (SPA) Inc., Alexandria, Va., is being
awarded a $7,148,283 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide
systems engineering and program support for Nuclear Weapons
Security (NWS) Program and SSBN Superstructure Modification. SPA
will examine alternative approaches for SSBN security to the
baseline SSBN superstructure modification program and will work to
insure total system integration of all elements on SSBN and SSGN
related programs required to perform technical, operational, and
programmatic tradeoffs. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Va.,
and is expected to be completed in November 2005. Contract funds in
the amount of $6,048,283 will expire at the end of the current
fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The
Navy's Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the
contracting activity (N00030-05-C-0015).
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